WATER
4Guard Penguin
Archetype:
Penguin
ATK:
0
DEF:
1200
View:
3061
When you take damage from a card effect (except during the Damage Step): You can Special Summon this card from your hand, and if you do, gain LP equal to the damage you took.
Guard Penguin — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 44 ± 8 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 44 · Deck: 44 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Utility · Secondary: Material body
Why it scores here
Guard Penguin is a reactive Level 4 body that only does something when you take damage from a card effect, and then it Special Summons itself as a 0-ATK / 1200-DEF Winged Beast and gains LP equal to that damage. It converts that trigger into a free body and some life, not into board, card advantage, or interaction, so the score stays in the low-to-mid 40s. Its 0 ATK and the summon's dependence on taking damage earn nothing for stats; the points come from being a cheap, one-copy Penguin support body with a usable Level 4 material profile and 16 recent decks that confirm it is played, not that it is strong.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 35 | Live only after an effect-damage event while in hand, with no searcher or combo route in the evidence; accessibility is unreliable (inference, combo data is empty). |
| Combo & Conversion | 25 | The summon yields a single 0/1200 body plus LP gain, with no measured board or payoff, so conversion is low (text, combo data absent). |
| Resource Economy | 30 | A free Special Summon with LP gain is not card advantage and gives no refuel or search (text). |
| Effect & Interaction | 15 | No negation, removal, or disruption; it is a response to damage, not an interaction tool (text). |
| Material Utility | 45 | A Level 4 WATER Winged Beast is a generic material fit for Level 4 summons, usable even when its effect is blanked, but its 0 ATK limits value (text, inferred). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 30 | Usable only from hand under one trigger, with no graveyard or multi-turn effect to recover it (text, inferred). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 75 | Typically runs as one copy in a single-archetype support slot with no garnet or lock cost (observed: 11 of 16 decks run 1 copy, avg 1.62). |
Calculation
Weight profile: Utility default (0.7) blended with Material body (0.3) as the secondary role. Intrinsic ≈ 44, Deck ≈ 44, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Free, cost-less Special Summon with LP gain
- Level 4 WATER Winged Beast is a clean generic material
- Used in 16 recent decks across 7 archetypes, so it is consistently playable
Weaknesses
- Only triggers on card-effect damage, which is not controllable
- 0 ATK and 1200 DEF give minimal board presence
- No interaction, search, or card advantage
Counters / choke points
- Penguin support is the only home; no opponent-facing counter is measurable from this evidence
Best use
Utility / Penguin support body with LP gain on damage. Decks: Penguin, Umi Control, Shark, Seventh, Sky Striker, Frog, Spright. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card text: Special Summon from hand when taking card-effect damage (except Damage Step), gain LP equal to damage; Level 4 WATER Winged Beast, 0 ATK / 1200 DEF, Penguin archetype, legal in TCG, OCG, MasterDuel, DuelLinks; Decks: 16 of 16 main-deck, 7 archetypes, avg 1.62 copies per deck
- Observed: 11 of 16 decks run one copy; 5 run three; Top partners are archetype cards (Penguin Soldier, Nightmare Penguin, The Great Emperor Penguin) in 62.5% of decks, which reflects archetype overlap rather than card-specific synergy
- Inferred: The LP gain is the main value; the summon is a minor board body; Generic material use is plausible at Level 4 but 0 ATK limits it
- Data gaps: no combos supplied — combo conversion is text-only inference no guides supplied no banlist token — assumed 3 copies (unlimited) no usage statistics (StatisticsCard) — archetype inclusion % inferred from deck sample only